Took me a while to get through this book. Again, I'm bored by Gladwell (this is my second experience with him). I admit I got a few things from BlinkTook me a while to get through this book. Again, I'm bored by Gladwell (this is my second experience with him). I admit I got a few things from Blink and a handful of things from Tipping Point but I just did not get the hype. Perhaps it was talked up too much for me. I was expecting to be capitivated. Blah blah. I definitely enjoyed Freakonomics better than Tipping Point. I liked to try to place the people I knew into either Mavens, Salesmen, or Connectors. I'm drawing a blank on further thoughts about the book. I finished it sometime last week.

I feel a bit nerdy typing this up at 1:00 a.m. on a Saturday night so I can return this book tomorrow on my way to babysitting. They're 8 days overdueI feel a bit nerdy typing this up at 1:00 a.m. on a Saturday night so I can return this book tomorrow on my way to babysitting. They're 8 days overdue at the library.

My favorite philosophy professor reviewed this book and half way through the book I noticed his quip on the back of the book

"William B. Irvine has written a disarmingly seductive and easily readable treatise on the origins, nature, vicissitudes, and 'crises' of desire. He simply and clearly discusses biologically incentive systems, the rich psychological research on the peculiarities of our motivation, and the wisdom of various religious and spiritual traditions. It is a well-informed, wise, informed interdisciplinary book that is highly recommended for the general reader." - SolomnI've copied that only because Solomon died early this year and it's just one more thing to hold on to besides his books and my class notes.

Initially,I was very excited to read this book. I was browsing the philosophy section in the library idly when I came upon this book. Was going through some conflicting desires at the time (they're still unresolved actually) and I thought hmm perhaps this book will enlighten me. Initially after the introduction and the first two chapters, my excitement waned. I was dedicated and read through the end. Towards the end, I got bored and was skimming through the last few chapters. I did jot down a few excerpts. It is a great book if you want a crash course on all the different philosophical teachings... Crash course on Stoics, Skeptics, Eccentrics. Irvine also did a lot of philosophical name dropping which I'd admit I like in my books only to keep me fresh.. Hume, Schophenhauer, Aristotle, etc etc. Many got mentions. Irvine touched on the evolutionary proposes of desires, different types of desires, religious advice on how to deal with desire and, philosophical advice on how to deal with desire.

So first few chapters peaked my interest. Distinguished the differences between the bandwagon effect (conforming) and the snob effect (not conforming for the sake of not conforming).

Excerpts follows.

"Familiarity breeds envy. A person is more likely to feel envious of his coworkers, neighbors, or relatives than a multibillionaire he has never met." -48

"Other people's heads are a wretched place to be the home of a man's true happiness." - Schopenhauer 36

"We go far less trouble about making ourselves happy than about appearing to be so." - La Rochefoucauld 39

"Intellectually, we know what we need to do with our lives, and we set goals accordingly - to swim ten miles each week, to write a page a day, to learn to play the bango, to terminate a relationship that is causing us grief. But unless our emotions cooperate, unless they commit to the goals our intellect sets, it is unlikely that we will accomplish these goals: our heart won't be in it, and a mind operating without the support of a heart is singularly impotent."

"The intellect's best strategy for dealing with the emotions is to use emotions to fight emotions."

"Adaptation: we tend to get used to what we have and therefore like it less with the passage of time. We grow indifferent to the spouse, home, or car that was once our pride and joy, and because we are no longer satisfied with what we have,w e form new desires in the belief that satisfying them - unlike when we satisfied our previous desires - will lead to lasting happiness."

"Why ignore modern philosophy? Because most modern philosophers are horrified by the thought of giving people advice on how to live better lives."...more

Interesting studies in compliance. I appreciated how Cialdini ended each chapter with tips on "how to say no" depending on the influence tactic beingInteresting studies in compliance. I appreciated how Cialdini ended each chapter with tips on "how to say no" depending on the influence tactic being abused. ...more

I finished reading Outliers yesterday. I borrowed the book from the library and it was over 2 weeks overdue by the time I returned it which resulted iI finished reading Outliers yesterday. I borrowed the book from the library and it was over 2 weeks overdue by the time I returned it which resulted in a whopping 3 dollar fee!

I think Gladwell only has 3 books out. If this is true, I’ve read all of them now. Blink, Tipping Point, and Now Outliers. Blink and Tipping Point didn’t really captivate me. Contrastingly, Outliers really did interest me. Gladwell outlines what makes really successful people successful. He investigates the success of geniuses, professional athletes, Bill Gates, Bill Joy, Asians and their proclivity for mathematics, Jewish New York lawyers and takeover law. What he finds is that birth dates, birth years, social-economic climates, arbitrary lucky breaks, and cultural legacies all play crucial roles in a person’s exceptional rise to success.

For instance, pro-athlete hockey players in Canada, he’s noted usually were born in the first 3 months of the year. The cut off date for youth hockey leagues is January 1, suggesting that the kids who just miss the cutoff date, get a few extra months to develop and mature in their skills which also draws extra coaching.

Success is the result of what sociologists like to call “accumulative advantage.” The professional hockey player starts out a little bit better than his peers. And that little difference leads to an opportunity that makes that difference a bit bigger, and that edge is turn leads to another opportunity, which makes the initially small difference bigger still - and on and on until the hockey player is a genuine outlier. But he didn’t start out an outlier. He started out just a little bit better.” - pg 30

I don’t want to give the rest of the book away. Suffice it to say it’s pretty interesting and surprising. I leave you with my favorite passage that pretty much sums it up and inspires.

“We are so caught in the myths of the best and the brightest and the self-made that we think outliers spring naturally from the earth. We look at the young Bill Gates and marvel that our world allowed that thirteen-year-old to become a fabulously successful entrepreneur. But that’s the wrong lesson. Our world only allowed one thirteen-year-old unlimited access to a time sharing terminal in 1968. If a million teenagers had been given the same opportunity, how many more Microsofts would we have today? To build a better world we need to replace the patchwork of lucky breaks and arbitrary advantages that today determine success- the fortunate birth dates and the happy accidents of history - with a society that provides opportunities for all. If Canada had a second hockey league for those children born in the last half of the year, it would today have twice as many adults hockey league for those children born in the last half of the year, it would today have twice as many adult hockey stars. Now multiply that sudden flowering of talent by every field and profession. The world could be so much richer than the world we have settled for.” - pg 268